Qdrop
05-25-2005, 11:30 AM
http://www.townhall.com/news/politics/200505/CUL20050525a.shtml
Conservative Media Bias Called a 'Matter of Life and Death
(CNSNews.com) - Conservative bias in the American news media is "not simply a matter of taste, but of life and death," a panel of liberal radio talk show hosts and representatives of leftist organizations told a group of Democras on Tuesday.
"There is no more urgent problem facing America today," stated Mark Lloyd, senior fellow at the Center for American Progress (CAP), one of 10 panelists who spoke on "Media Bias and the Future of Freedom of the Press."
The forum was chaired by U.S. Rep. John Conyers of Michigan, the ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, and focused on what Lloyd called "ideological distortion" that is "built into the current system."
No individual or group dedicated to the monitoring of liberal media bias was invited to the event, though Conyers said he might invite "an independent or a Republican" at a similar forum in six months.
"Whoever has the most money has the loudest voice," Lloyd said, which means that "multi-national corporations dominate the debate today. Profit is what counts," instead of "promoting a democratic dialogue."
Other panelists focused their criticism on "the right-wing media," which Al Franken, a comedian and radio talk show host, described as a "coordinated propaganda machine capable of causing symptoms closely resembling mental illness."
In his opening statement, Franken named "the Fox News Channel, the Wall Street Journal editorial page, the Washington Times and, of course, talk radio" as media that work in league with the Bush administration and corporate-funded think tanks.
Franken also charged that people in "right-wing radio," such as conservative talk show hosts Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity, "routinely lie, they spread hate, and I chose to do the job I'm doing right now" on the liberal Air America network "because someone needed to push back."
After Franken stated that he had gone on USO tours to boost the morale of U.S. troops abroad, he accused Limbaugh of being a "one-man demoralizer," for telling his listeners that "liberals want soldiers to die." Limbaugh's program, he noted, is broadcast on Armed Forces Radio.
"These guys will just lie," Franken added, since "their purpose is not to serve their audiences, but to manipulate them."
Eric Alterman, another senior fellow at the Center for American Progress and author of the book "What Liberal Media?" said there's so much wrong with the media "that one could go on forever."
Over the past five decades, Alterman said, Republican politicians, writers, television pundits and think tanks have been remarkably successful at convincing the American people of a "liberal bias" in the media.
"Using the very same media outlets that they complain don't give their cause a fair shake, they know that slamming the other side is little more than a way to get their ideas across while drowning out opposing voices." Alterman called it "a massive bait-and-switch operation."
Alterman also expressed concern for the establishment press, which "must, on a daily basis, come face to face with an administration obsessed with secrecy and which belittles and browbeats reporters at every opportunity.
"Note how quickly [White House Press Secretary] Scott McClennan [sic] blamed Newsweek for the rioting in Afghanistan last week," he said.
"Despite the fact that his bosses presided over the invasion of Iraq and the well-documented abuses at Abu Ghraib and Bagram, the administration -- along with a whole host of ready-for-prime-time conservative talking heads -- pounced on one sentence in a short blurb, claiming that it caused irreparable harm to the 'image of America' in the Muslim world," Alterman added.
Reaction to Newsweek's retracted story also drew fire from Randi Rhodes, another Air America talk show host, who accused the White House of calling the magazine "an accessory to murder for printing a story of Koran abuse that the [International Red Cross Committee] has clearly documented for more than three years" in Cuba, Afghanistan and Iraq.
Rhodes claimed "corporate news has simply become propaganda for a Republican majority today, a Republican majority tomorrow, a Republican majority forever."
She had three recommendations for addressing media bias. The first was for Congress to adopt standards for labeling a broadcast as news instead of opinion or commentary.
"Second, I think we need to bring back the Fairness Doctrine, which served this country well from 1949 through 1987" by guaranteeing "competing viewpoints on issues of public importance."
Rhodes' final suggestion was "to protect our journalists," who "must be free to report and never be penalized with lost access to the people they cover or with retribution from partisan employers.
"If you fail to act," she told the liberal U.S. representatives in attendance, "I will be a member of a minority party for a very long time. That is, if the two-party system can survive this new propaganda machine called the news."
Conyers held a similar conservative bashing forum shortly after President Bush's re-election last November, in which an entirely liberal group of speakers advanced theories that Republicans had stolen the 2004 election.
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this whole committee was horendously biased and unbalanced....however, the points are quite valid.
i still think there is bias of both sides evident in the media....no just conservative.
Conservative Media Bias Called a 'Matter of Life and Death
(CNSNews.com) - Conservative bias in the American news media is "not simply a matter of taste, but of life and death," a panel of liberal radio talk show hosts and representatives of leftist organizations told a group of Democras on Tuesday.
"There is no more urgent problem facing America today," stated Mark Lloyd, senior fellow at the Center for American Progress (CAP), one of 10 panelists who spoke on "Media Bias and the Future of Freedom of the Press."
The forum was chaired by U.S. Rep. John Conyers of Michigan, the ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, and focused on what Lloyd called "ideological distortion" that is "built into the current system."
No individual or group dedicated to the monitoring of liberal media bias was invited to the event, though Conyers said he might invite "an independent or a Republican" at a similar forum in six months.
"Whoever has the most money has the loudest voice," Lloyd said, which means that "multi-national corporations dominate the debate today. Profit is what counts," instead of "promoting a democratic dialogue."
Other panelists focused their criticism on "the right-wing media," which Al Franken, a comedian and radio talk show host, described as a "coordinated propaganda machine capable of causing symptoms closely resembling mental illness."
In his opening statement, Franken named "the Fox News Channel, the Wall Street Journal editorial page, the Washington Times and, of course, talk radio" as media that work in league with the Bush administration and corporate-funded think tanks.
Franken also charged that people in "right-wing radio," such as conservative talk show hosts Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity, "routinely lie, they spread hate, and I chose to do the job I'm doing right now" on the liberal Air America network "because someone needed to push back."
After Franken stated that he had gone on USO tours to boost the morale of U.S. troops abroad, he accused Limbaugh of being a "one-man demoralizer," for telling his listeners that "liberals want soldiers to die." Limbaugh's program, he noted, is broadcast on Armed Forces Radio.
"These guys will just lie," Franken added, since "their purpose is not to serve their audiences, but to manipulate them."
Eric Alterman, another senior fellow at the Center for American Progress and author of the book "What Liberal Media?" said there's so much wrong with the media "that one could go on forever."
Over the past five decades, Alterman said, Republican politicians, writers, television pundits and think tanks have been remarkably successful at convincing the American people of a "liberal bias" in the media.
"Using the very same media outlets that they complain don't give their cause a fair shake, they know that slamming the other side is little more than a way to get their ideas across while drowning out opposing voices." Alterman called it "a massive bait-and-switch operation."
Alterman also expressed concern for the establishment press, which "must, on a daily basis, come face to face with an administration obsessed with secrecy and which belittles and browbeats reporters at every opportunity.
"Note how quickly [White House Press Secretary] Scott McClennan [sic] blamed Newsweek for the rioting in Afghanistan last week," he said.
"Despite the fact that his bosses presided over the invasion of Iraq and the well-documented abuses at Abu Ghraib and Bagram, the administration -- along with a whole host of ready-for-prime-time conservative talking heads -- pounced on one sentence in a short blurb, claiming that it caused irreparable harm to the 'image of America' in the Muslim world," Alterman added.
Reaction to Newsweek's retracted story also drew fire from Randi Rhodes, another Air America talk show host, who accused the White House of calling the magazine "an accessory to murder for printing a story of Koran abuse that the [International Red Cross Committee] has clearly documented for more than three years" in Cuba, Afghanistan and Iraq.
Rhodes claimed "corporate news has simply become propaganda for a Republican majority today, a Republican majority tomorrow, a Republican majority forever."
She had three recommendations for addressing media bias. The first was for Congress to adopt standards for labeling a broadcast as news instead of opinion or commentary.
"Second, I think we need to bring back the Fairness Doctrine, which served this country well from 1949 through 1987" by guaranteeing "competing viewpoints on issues of public importance."
Rhodes' final suggestion was "to protect our journalists," who "must be free to report and never be penalized with lost access to the people they cover or with retribution from partisan employers.
"If you fail to act," she told the liberal U.S. representatives in attendance, "I will be a member of a minority party for a very long time. That is, if the two-party system can survive this new propaganda machine called the news."
Conyers held a similar conservative bashing forum shortly after President Bush's re-election last November, in which an entirely liberal group of speakers advanced theories that Republicans had stolen the 2004 election.
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this whole committee was horendously biased and unbalanced....however, the points are quite valid.
i still think there is bias of both sides evident in the media....no just conservative.